Celastrol-loaded liquid crystalline nanoparticles as an anti-inflammatory intervention for the treatment of asthma
Yinghan Chan, Sin Wi Ng, Dinesh Kumar Chellappan, Thiagarajan Madheswaran, Farrukh Zeeshan, Pradeep Kumar, Viness Pillay, Gaurav Gupta, Ridhima Wadhwa, Meenu Mehta, Peter Wark, Alan Hsu, Nicole G. Hansbro, Philip M. Hansbro, Kamal Dua, Jithendra Panneerselvam
Abstract
The present study aimed to formulate celastrol into liquid crystalline nanoparticles (LCNPs) through ultrasonication to enhance its therapeutic efficacy in the treatment of asthma. The physiochemical characteristics, in-vitro release studies were determined along with molecular simulations. Celastrol-loaded LCNPs showed the mean particle size of 194.1 ± 9.78 nm and high entrapment efficiency of 99.1 ± 0.02%. TEM revealed cubical-like structure of the nanoparticles and in-vitro release study demonstrated sustained drug release. They also demonstrated significant activity in reducing IL-1β production, when evaluated using immortalized human bronchial epithelial cell lines (BCi-NS1.1), that may help alleviate the symptoms of asthma.